Reporting a “Line of Credit Expenditure”

Alabama Secretary of State’s OfficeElections Division

“Line of Credit Expenditures” Explained

• When paying for an expenditure using a campaign credit card or when purchasing an item for the campaign using a line of credit, the transactions must be entered as “Line of Credit Expenditures” in the electronic Fair Campaign Practices Act Reporting System (FCPA).

• “Line of Credit Expenditures” are entered differently from regular expenditures since “Line of Credit Expenditures” are not paid for with campaign funds at the time of purchase.

• Instead, “Line of Credit Expenditures” will be paid for at a later time when a payment is made to a credit card issuer or other creditor. The payment to the credit card issuer or other creditor will then be reported as a regular expenditure.

Step 1• Log into the committee’s FCPA account and then click on “Transactions” to access the drop-down

menu. Then, select “Expenditures”.

Step 2• Once on the “Expenditure Administration” page, click the “ADD” button to add a new “Line of Credit

Expenditure”.

Step 3• To enter an expenditure of more than $100, click on the drop-down menu below “Expenditure

Type” and select “Itemized Line of Credit Expenditure”.• Once total expenditures to a particular recipient exceed $100, the expenditure(s) to that recipient must be

itemized. (To enter a non-itemized “Line of Credit Expenditure”, under $100, skip to step 5).

Step 4• After selecting “Itemized Line of Credit Expenditure”, enter all of the requested information

regarding the expenditure: purpose, expenditure date, expenditure amount, explanation of the expenditure (if necessary), and payee information (payment recipient). Click the “SAVE” button after the expenditure information has been entered and reviewed for accuracy.

Step 5• If the total expenditures to a particular recipient have not exceeded $100 over the course of the election

cycle, the “Line of Credit Expenditure” may be entered as non-itemized. To report a non-itemized “Line of Credit Expenditure”, click on the drop-down menu and select “Non-Itemized Line of Credit Expenditure”.

Step 6• After selecting “Non-Itemized Line of Credit Expenditure”, enter all of the requested information

regarding the expenditure: purpose, expenditure date, expenditure amount, and explanation of the expenditure (if necessary). Click the “SAVE” button after all of the expenditure information has been entered and reviewed for accuracy.

Step 7

• To report a payment to a “Line of Credit Expenditure” in the system, the payment must be entered as a regular expenditure. To do so, click on “Transactions” to access the drop-down menu. Then, select “Expenditures”.

Step 8• On the “Expenditure Administration” page, click the “ADD” button in the bottom right corner of

the page.

Step 9

• To enter a payment on a “Line of Credit Expenditure” of more than $100, click on the drop-down menu below “Expenditure Type” and select “Itemized”.

• Once total expenditures to a particular recipient exceed $100, the expenditure(s) to that recipient must be itemized. If expenditures to a particular recipient have not exceeded $100, the expenditure(s) to that recipient can be entered as non-itemized.

Step 10• After selecting “Itemized”, enter all of the requested expenditure information: purpose,

expenditure date, expenditure amount, explanation of the expenditure (if necessary), and the payee information (payee type, name, and address). Click the “SAVE” button after the expenditure information has been entered and reviewed for accuracy.

Step 11• These transactions will be listed on the Summary

Page of the filed report, in the “Expenditures on Line of Credit” section, on lines 6a through 6c.

• The payment to the creditor (or any other entity that extended credit to the committee) will be listed on the Summary Page in the “Expenditures” section.

Step 12

• The itemized “Line of Credit Expenditures” will appear on Form 6 of the filed report.

Step 13• Itemized payments to the credit card issuer or any other entity extending credit to the committee will

appear on Form 5 of the filed report.

For more information…

For further questions regarding “Line of Credit Expenditures” or payments for “Line of Credit Expenditures”, please contact the Elections Division.

(334) 242-7210(800) 274-8683